We continue the recruit and return series with the UCLA Bruins, whose season ended Tuesday with a loss to St. Bonaventure. A look at what the 2018-19 season could hold for Steve Alford and the Bruins.
Possible 2018-19 starting five
G: Prince Ali
C: Moses Brown
G: Jaylen Hands
F: Kris Wilkes
Who is lost: Two major contributors -- Thomas Welsh and Gyorgy Goloman -- are seniors, while Aaron Holiday and Kris Wilkes probably will, at minimum, test the NBA waters. Among the four of them, they combined for 121 starts and 54.4 points per game this season.
Who is added: As things sit, only Duke has a more highly-ranked recruiting class than the Bruins, who have pledges from five ESPN 300 players and six players overall. The headliner is five-star center Moses Brown, who at 7-foot-1, could make an imposing front line playing alongside Shareef O'Neal -- yes, Shaq's son -- who decommitted from Arizona. SF Jules Bernard, SG David Singleton III and PG Tyger Campbell are all four-star recruits with the ability to come in and play right away. Kenny Nwuba is viewed as more of a project who needs to add weight, but at 6-foot-11, he gives this class even more size. There's also the duo of Cody Riley and Jalen Hill, who sat this year due to the notorious shoplifting incident in China, and they, too, were ESPN 300 players in the Class of 2017.
What it means for next season: On paper, UCLA should be viewed, without question, as the favorite in the Pac-12 next season -- even if Holiday and Wilkes both depart. The more likely scenario, it seems, is that Holiday leaves and Wilkes returns, at which point the Bruins will have some nice pieces -- including Jaylen Hands and Prince Ali -- to build off of with the talented incoming class. Still, in over 20 seasons as a Division I coach, Steve Alford has never taken a team past the Sweet 16, so while it's easy to set a high bar, there is also plenty of reason to temper expectations.
Trending: Up. Players, for the most part, win games, and the Bruins will have the talent to win a lot of them next season.